The opening words of The Liberator Magazine’s first book release fittingly belong to historian Dr. John Henrik Clarke: “A people’s name should link them to land, history, and culture. ‘Black’ tells you how you look, but not who you are.”

So begins The Last Generation of Black People (The Liberator Magazine LLC, 2012) — a biographic, ethnographic compilation of critical research in consciousness and culture that marks more than a decade of independent print journal publishing. The theme and namesake were born out of a recognition that a mutation had occurred; from the multi-generational experiences bracketed by post-slavery reconstruction and the crack epidemic of the 80s, into fully-commercialized notions of “Blackness.” At this pivotal juncture, the generation of the post-crack era could either go the way of an historically-amnesic Blackness or embrace the potential for a generational rebirth and time-signature realignment with African land, history, and culture.

“In order to proceed confidently with the work of remaking lost connections in our collective consciousness there ought to be sober acceptance, as a whole, however long it takes, of both what we are and what we are not,” said publisher Brian Kasoro. “It follows that it may be a good thing to cap an era of rhetorical confusion.”

The Last Generation of Black People is 138 compact and perfect-bound pages with a matte full-color finish, adorned with commissioned double-cover artwork, reprinted on limited edition t-shirts.